Blue Gold: World Water Wars, by Mark Achbar and Si Litvinoff, 2008
The current method we use to mine fresh water is unsustainable. Blue Gold shows us the various ecological, political, and technological aspects that influence our water consumption, and bring to bear some very startling facts, including that we are, globally, running out of clean water to drink. With the depleting of such a necessary resource, many large corporations have begun to privatize water, and through privatization, have begun to put, unnecessarily additional, artificial, stress on the dwindling fresh water resources. This privation of water has to be fought, if humans are to survive.
Blue Gold gives good scientific case studies of how our current system of water harvesting from aquifers is depleting the ground water and causing the local areas to dessertify, thus leading to the grounds inability absorb more water and replenish the aquifer. The opening scene of the film sets the mood for the entire film rather well. Water is needed for survival, and with the depletion of water and the privatization of such a necessary resource, the film does a good job of getting people emotionally involved in the movement to save water. Everyone is affected by this sustainability problem, not just long term, but short term as well. As water is privatized, water is displaced from local communities, and sold for prices too high to afford, forcing people to go thirsty. The given example of the uprising in Bolivia was extremely moving and does a good job of connecting with the viewer on an emotional level. Everyone has been thirsty, and the thought of not having access to water for showers, for cooking, for drinking, is something that everyone can sympathize with.
This documentary does a good job covering the political, economic, technological, cultural, and ecological facets. The Ecological issues that arise from depleting water are obvious, however the other issues are much less obvious. Politically and economically, the film focuses on the close tie in of large water corporations privatizing all of the water in a nation, thus gaining control over the country. The World Trade Organization is given as a good example of what is wrong with the way the global market deals with water. As corporations begin to buy out the water of a city, they gain control of everything operating in the system. In many cases given by the film, the water corporations bribe or pay off the political leaders of a community in order to set up their privatization, which is more expensive, lower quality, and overall bad for the health of the community.
The part of the film that got to me most was the segment on the fight for the privation of the Great Lakes. I see the Great Lakes as a national treasure, and the fact that any corporations wants to take it all and sell it for a momentary profit was very moving for me. I was immediately enraged by this fact, and was motivated to find some way to stop this from happening, or to force the deed that was bought by the corporation to be voided. The revolution in Bolivia was another very strong point of the film. The fact that a corporation could make it illegal to collect rain water, and just control the population so much was extremely shocking. This movement is also a very good example of how people can only be pushed so far, and will not let their water rights be taken away from them.
This film is best suited for citizens of the Western world as the audience; however the issue affects all people everywhere equally. Water is such a quintessential need of all people everywhere, that if the goal of corporations is to privatize every last drop of fresh water, and to deplete and pollute any water that they do not own, then this is a direct assault on nations everywhere. I cannot think of any audience that this film would not suit well, however if I had to choose one that it best targets, it would be the members of the Western world who have either turned a blind eye towards the water shortage, or are simply not affected by it at this time. Those people are the ones that this film needs to reach if there is to be any major progress on this issue.
The fight to stop privatization of water and to recover the natural hydrological cycle was touched on heavily in the film. Making it illegal to export water from its natural ecosystem to somewhere else in the globe, would do well in stopping the colossal bottled water industry which causes such a large portion of this water shortage. Additionally, the formation of mini-dams to stop water from running off of areas that have been dessertified has been shown to restore areas to a lush landscape. This film does a great job of offering simple solutions to these huge problems, and shows that the solutions do in fact work.
The current method we use to mine fresh water is unsustainable. Blue Gold shows us the various ecological, political, and technological aspects that influence our water consumption, and bring to bear some very startling facts, including that we are, globally, running out of clean water to drink. With the depleting of such a necessary resource, many large corporations have begun to privatize water, and through privatization, have begun to put, unnecessarily additional, artificial, stress on the dwindling fresh water resources. This privation of water has to be fought, if humans are to survive.
Blue Gold gives good scientific case studies of how our current system of water harvesting from aquifers is depleting the ground water and causing the local areas to dessertify, thus leading to the grounds inability absorb more water and replenish the aquifer.
The opening scene of the film sets the mood for the entire film rather well. Water is needed for survival, and with the depletion of water and the privatization of such a necessary resource, the film does a good job of getting people emotionally involved in the movement to save water. Everyone is affected by this sustainability problem, not just long term, but short term as well. As water is privatized, water is displaced from local communities, and sold for prices too high to afford, forcing people to go thirsty. The given example of the uprising in Bolivia was extremely moving and does a good job of connecting with the viewer on an emotional level. Everyone has been thirsty, and the thought of not having access to water for showers, for cooking, for drinking, is something that everyone can sympathize with.
This documentary does a good job covering the political, economic, technological, cultural, and ecological facets. The Ecological issues that arise from depleting water are obvious, however the other issues are much less obvious. Politically and economically, the film focuses on the close tie in of large water corporations privatizing all of the water in a nation, thus gaining control over the country. The World Trade Organization is given as a good example of what is wrong with the way the global market deals with water. As corporations begin to buy out the water of a city, they gain control of everything operating in the system. In many cases given by the film, the water corporations bribe or pay off the political leaders of a community in order to set up their privatization, which is more expensive, lower quality, and overall bad for the health of the community.
The part of the film that got to me most was the segment on the fight for the privation of the Great Lakes. I see the Great Lakes as a national treasure, and the fact that any corporations wants to take it all and sell it for a momentary profit was very moving for me. I was immediately enraged by this fact, and was motivated to find some way to stop this from happening, or to force the deed that was bought by the corporation to be voided.
The revolution in Bolivia was another very strong point of the film. The fact that a corporation could make it illegal to collect rain water, and just control the population so much was extremely shocking. This movement is also a very good example of how people can only be pushed so far, and will not let their water rights be taken away from them.
This film is best suited for citizens of the Western world as the audience; however the issue affects all people everywhere equally. Water is such a quintessential need of all people everywhere, that if the goal of corporations is to privatize every last drop of fresh water, and to deplete and pollute any water that they do not own, then this is a direct assault on nations everywhere. I cannot think of any audience that this film would not suit well, however if I had to choose one that it best targets, it would be the members of the Western world who have either turned a blind eye towards the water shortage, or are simply not affected by it at this time. Those people are the ones that this film needs to reach if there is to be any major progress on this issue.
The fight to stop privatization of water and to recover the natural hydrological cycle was touched on heavily in the film. Making it illegal to export water from its natural ecosystem to somewhere else in the globe, would do well in stopping the colossal bottled water industry which causes such a large portion of this water shortage. Additionally, the formation of mini-dams to stop water from running off of areas that have been dessertified has been shown to restore areas to a lush landscape. This film does a great job of offering simple solutions to these huge problems, and shows that the solutions do in fact work.